At some point in a business’s lifetime someone has got to pick up the phone or knock on the door of potential businesses.

However, whilst many people don’t enjoy that aspect of business, The Lively Crew sales team loves to talk and more importantly convert those conversations into potential new leads, even if you don’t.

Whilst much maligned by those who don’t enjoy picking up the phone, telemarketing remains one of the key ways to promote and drive business, providing cost-effective and measurable results. Successful use of the telephone to prospect and generate leads for your business requires a little bit of planning before you pick up the phone, and adherence to some basic rules once you do.

There are a number of individual elements that together contribute towards maximising the results of a telemarketing campaign, below is a guide to some of the most important:

1# Target the Right ProspectsBefore you speak to anyone, work out who it is you want to be speaking to. It sounds obvious but focus on companies that are most likely to be interested in your solution. Before you pick up the phone think about the kind and type of businesses you want to target then structure your prospects by industry, size and location, putting those you think you will have most success with first. It is here that The Lively Crew’s access to over 11,000 businesses across Norfolk through the BOLD Online Business Directories, comes into its own. We have access to the data, in an easy to sort format and can provide you with the contacts you want, listed in the order you need them. Our data gets you straight in front of the decision maker, saving you hours of calls to a friendly but ultimately unhelpful receptionist.

2# Structure your callPut the phone down! Now you have your contacts sorted, think about what messages you want to get across. During this process it is helpful to imagine that you’re the prospect receiving the call - you probably get lots of calls each day. In order to stand out it is therefore vital that the seller grabs your attention and engages with you within the first 30 seconds of the call. If they don’t, you’ll cut them short and end the call.

Furthermore if you know the structure of the call before you dial, you will be better prepared for steering the call towards your intended destination – making the sale or securing the lead.

As a guide the below is a professional and positive way to structure your call:

Introduce yourself and where you are calling from

Highlight the relevance of your call, for example how your call will benefit the person you’re speaking to or your experience in their sector

Explain in simple and concise terms the benefit, but not the features at this stage, of how your solution or product will help them – this is known as `The Hook`. Keep it short, clear and precise.

Qualify their interest and gain their consent to discuss the reason for your call in more in detail.

This process should take an absolute maximum of 30 seconds. Once you have qualified they are interested in learning more you will be able to have a more detailed conversation without needing to rush through your pitch, or agree a time that is convenient to have the conversation.

If you rush into complicated details too quickly, you are likely to confuse, or worse, irritate the person on the other end of the phone. Keep it short, sweet and leave them wanting more.

Once you have delivered your pitch you need close the conversation by gaining the prospects consent to move to the next stage of the process. This can mean obtaining the correct address to send literature to, or just a more convenient time to call back to discuss the reason for your call with the appropriate person within the business. Successful telesales relies on not just one intense call but on building a relationship with the prospect. So before you call be clear on whether your primary call objective is to arrange a meeting, to qualify their requirements or to simply gain the prospect's consent for you to send some literature and follow up and structure the conversation accordingly.

4# Set Achievable Targets and Measure Your PerformanceProductive telephone prospecting is a discipline. You should be making a minimum of 30 calls per hour and within this you should be reaching 5 decision makers and advancing the process to the next stage of the telemarketing process.

To help you achieve this set goals covering your key metrics that you need to achieve each week, such as:

Total number of calls made

Decision Maker contacts reached

Literature requests sent

Conversations to meetings/quotes

So for example, within your business, or to reach your goals within your telemarketing budget, you may need to speak to 25 Decision Makers to find one, fully-qualified prospect, who is interested in your solution. Therefore, if you can reach 5 Decisions Makers per hour by phone, you need to commit 5 hours productive calling time (coffee, toilet & cigarette breaks don’t count) in order to generate a one good lead (5 x 5 = 25 = 1). So if you want to achieve 10 good leads per week of telemarketing activity, you'd need to commit 50 hours per week to prospecting otherwise your sales targets will be missed.

What are the alternatives?

1. Give up, get out of the business… As we said at the start, at some point in the life of every business, somebody is going to have to pick up the phone and let people know you are there. So option 1 isn’t really an option at all. If you are in business, you will need to be on the telephone.

2. Find another way to generate leads. As a full-service marketing agency, we know there are lots of alternatives to telemarketing. However, as we tell everybody we speak to, a successful and cost-effective marketing plan needs to involve an integrated approach, across a variety of techniques and platforms. Remember, not everybody reads the news, not everyone uses the internet, not everybody watches TV or listens to the radio. It is therefore vital you speak to people where they can and will listen. Also remember if successful marketing was easy everyone would be doing it… However all is not lost!

3. Get some expert help. At The Lively Crew we have over 30 years marketing experience working throughout the UK. We are a competent and proven team of qualified marketing and sales professionals with a no nonsense approach to delivering measurable results for businesses of all sizes with tailor made planning and execution and always to budget.

The Lively Crew

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Business Advice Centre

We are delighted to announce that we have welcomed a new sales person to the team, with the arrival of Jaki Holland.

Jaki, who completed a successful work experience placement with us, has joined The Lively Crew's Sales Team, with an emphasis on promoting the Enviro-Pod product range, focussing on Fresh Pod.

Initially based in our Norwich office on Yarmouth Road, Jaki is hoping to grow the company by taking Fresh Pod into new markets, particularly her native London moving forward.

"I am really excited to be joining The Lively Crew and working on Enviro-Pod and Fresh Pod. The whole range really appealed to me and the savings the products can make to both people's wallets and in lowering their carbon footprint make them a natural choice for environmentally conscious individuals in this difficult economic period. I am already receiving some great feeback about the products and I can't wait to develop the entire range further" said Jaki.

For more information on either The Livley Crew or Enviro-Pod, please contact a member of the team on 01603 702374 or email info@thelivelycrew.co.uk.

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The Lively Crew is celebrating 10 years in business in July with a brand new look. The business has grown and diversified over the years to compete in an ever increasing competitive market place. A lively and experienced team mixing wise heads with the exuberance of youth, the business continues to deliver exceptional marketing activity for organisations of all shapes and sizes across a diverse range of business sectors including public and private sector organisations.

We only work with people we like and we believe we can make a difference to their business. Results driven we don't just take the money. We have no Porsches in the car park we don't have time for the test drive as we are too busy driving client business.

The Lively Crew is one of a group of companies, wholly owned or part shared with like minded business partners. One of the founders Valerie has a keen interest in saving the planet and through two of the sister companies Fresh Pod and Enviro-Pod is one a mission to reduce energy consumption and food waste through the food supply chain. (websites). Watch this space - proven technology is starting to make a difference!

Sustainability comes in many forms and out to prove that public sector money should be used to drive economic development on an ongoing basis and not channelled into project, short term, based programmes BOLD Directories was formed. How pleasing that forward thinking teams such as those at Broadland, Breckland and South Norfolk invested in business directories for businesses and which have ultimately bought the District Councils and local businesses closer together.

Proud to be a family business. Family owned businesses have been and continues to be a major contributor to economic growth. It's not just about numbers, emotive issues are complex and at the forefront of many of family/owner controlled organisations and where many professional services focus on the revenue share and issues Trilogic Family Office works closely with families on structures and ownership issues through the generations.

So we haven't been sitting on our seats for the past decade. Life is good, business is good and the Crew are getting increasingly livelier to the benefit of our growing customer base.

The Lively Crew have recently rebranded, to coincide with 10 years in business, delivering first-class marketing, sales and events work for businesses across the private, public and third sectors has taught us a thing or two about what works and why. That is why we are offering businesses the chance to tap into our expertise with a FREE two-hour session to review your current marketing activity and how you could move forward.

Our portfolio of services and businesses has grown steadily in the last decade. Being a true full-service marketing agency we offer; Marketing Consultancy, Direct Marketing, PR, Event Management, Website Management, Copywriting, Telemarketing, Database Management and Media Buying as well as Branding and Design.

Our growth means we now operate from 34a Yarmouth Road in Norwich and The Workshop in Bridgham, meaning we have Norfolk covered.

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Broadland District Council

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We are delighted to announce that we will be exhibiting at the Royal Norfolk Show, with our Director Valerie Bullard hosting a special marketing workshop on request of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

Alongside discussing our role as a full-service marketing agency, covering Norwich, Norfolk and beyond, we will also be exhibiting the full Enviro-Pod sustainable product range, including our unique ethylene control technology, Fresh Pod.

Fresh Pod's method of ethylene control has been independently proven to be the most effective form of ethylene control available in the UK and is now being used by many national and international fresh produce distributors, to keep produce at it's best and limit wastage.

Taking place on June 27th and 28th, the Royal Norfolk Show will be an ideal opportunity for us to spread our message of saving money and reducing waste, for both businesses and households, looking to maximise their finances and become more sustainable in the coming months and years.

The Lively Crew will be exhibiting on stand 178, Avenue 6. If you would like to book a free marketing workshop with Valerie, please email info@thelivelycrew.co.uk or call 01603 702374 to book your space.

If you have any questions on marketing, Enviro-Pod, Flectalon or ethylene control, please come and ask a member of our friendly team who will be happy to help.

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We are looking for a motivated apprentice to join our busy marketing team. Based in Norwich, the role requires an organised, ambitious and hard-working individual, who has a fantastic eye for detail, to help the team by performing a range of administrative roles. As an apprentice with The Lively Crew you will gain invaluable experience across a range of marketing disciplines, whilst assisting in the day-to-day running of the office.

This role is perfect for somebody who is both environmentally responsible and looking to build a career in marketing. We offer a very real chance of progression for the right candidate, within a fast-paced and lively office.

For an informal chat about the vacancy, you can call Marketing Manager Andrew Lawn on 01603 702374 or Broadland Council Training Services' Apprenticeship Placement Officer, Anna Kingman on 01603 788950.